Product Details

• Actors: Wesley Snipes, Elizabeth Bennett
• Directors: Josef Rusnak
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Unknown)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: July 10, 2007
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PISZ7M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,423 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Contractor" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Wesley Snipes is back in this captivating action-thriller about a deadly assassin who finds himself on the run when an attempt to kill a terrorist mastermind in London goes terribly wrong. Retired marksman James Dial (Snipes) has been living a secluded life on his ranch in Montana but he is haunted by his failure to exterminate one of the world’s most notorious terrorists. Dial is approached by his old employers to finish the job in London, where the terrorist leader has been captured and is under heavy protection. What would be a routine mission for the sniper turns into a nightmare as Dial is forced into hiding and relentlessly pursued by the British police and their lead investigator, Windsor (Dance). But when Dial is framed for Windsor’s murder, he begins to realize that he has been seriously double-crossed. His only hope is a 12-year-old girl whom Dial reluctantly befriends as he desperately searches to find the killer and the truth behind his betrayal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just OK... well maybe not zero-killed, June 17, 2007

By 

Patricia Huerta (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Contractor (DVD)

The Contractor, formerly known as The Shooter, and not to be confused with Mark Wahlberg's "Shooter" is a movie starring Wesley Snipes as a CIA agent who is assigned to kill a terrorist, only to be framed for another murder. To complicate things more, Snipes will make friends with a teenager who will become his most valuable ally.

I have to say I find this film very straightforward, unimaginative, hardly believable on certain aspects, and just mildly entertaining. At times it feels like an amateur attempt to create a movie and innovate certain cinematographic aspects, but stays as an attempt. Even Lena Headey, who I always find her acting abilities exceptional, feels weak as Inspector Ballard, the one in charge of bringing Dial (Snipes) down. Eliza Bennet as the teenage girl who helps Snipes makes a very good job, even if certain aspects of her character are not believable. It's obviously not her fault, it's the writers'.

So I rate this movie as an average movie, with certain plot holes and pointless scenes. If you want some decent stuff by Wesley Snipes, take a shot, and there's the plus of having Lena Headey in it.

It's 90 minutes where you can enjoy a movie if you're not feeling too picky.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring movie, July 14, 2007

By 

Guy Campeau (Stoneham, Québec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Contractor (DVD)

Save your time and money and go for "The shooter" instead of this boring movie. Wesley Snipes is cold as ice in this movie and I don't know how much he has been paid for this but its performance doesn't worth a penny.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice Supporting Cast, OK Actions and Unoriginal Story, October 1, 2007

By 

Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Contractor (DVD)

If you're looking for an action film with car chases, shoot-outs and explosions, you will be disappointed with "The Contractor," which looks more like an old-fashioned cat-and-mouse thriller. The new Wesley Snipes film, it seems, is a blend of "Shooter" and "The Professional" (aka "Leon") with less actions and emotional intensity.

There is virtually nothing new about the story. Wesley Snipes plays James Dial, a retired sniper who is called in to do another job for men in suit. Of course, he is reluctant, accepts the job anyway and completes the mission, but not in the way he first expected and James must survive and fight back on his own as a stranger in London (but the film is shot in Bulgaria).

This stoic hitman is unexpectedly helped by a lonely, troubled 14-year-old girl Emily he encounters while hiding from his enemies. This is the most memorable part of the film because of the presence of Eliza Bennett ("Nanny McPhee"). You don't find the chemistry between Jean Reno and Natalie Portman here, but their acting is surprisingly good, making their unlikely friendship pretty convincing.

[NICE SUPPORTING CAST] In fact, the supporting actors are one of the merits of watching "The Contractor," of which cast includes, besides Eliza Bennett, veterans like Charles Dance, John Standing and Gemma Jones, plus Lena Headey (Queen Gorgo of "300") as Inspector Ballard.

In spite of their names, however, action scenes need more originality and tension and I don't think the hectic camera work really helps. Moreover, Dance and Headey are sadly wasted, especially the latter, having not much to do in the film's by-the-numbers story. The film is better than you may think, certainly better than most of Snipe's previous direct-to-DVD films, but not much improvement either.